Challenges in building temple

Bill Cameron

Saturday

Apr 20, 2019 at 8:45 PM

Editor’s note: This story is the first of a two-part series exploring the latest challenges facing the Jinyin Temple of Sino Esoteric Buddhism at the former Fernwood Resort. Follow the continuing coverage in the Pocono Record or online at poconorecord.com.

BUSHKILL — The long-abandoned hotel portion of the former Fernwood Resort, now the Jinyin Temple of Sino Esoteric Buddhism, is up for sale. Jinyin Temple recently put the vacant parcel on the market in an effort to consolidate its resources for redeveloping other parts of the former resort property.

“It takes time for us to build,” said temple spokesman Jack Wang, who is also overseeing construction. “We’re working hard to get money from donations, but at the same time we have to cut costs.”

“It doesn’t mean we’re quitting. We just feel the tax and expenses are too hefty. It drains our funding and resources that we need to build the temple.”

Only the northern portion of the property that contains the older, long-abandoned hotel buildings is up for sale at this time, Wang clarified. Those buildings have sustained significant damage due to decades of disuse.

Unanticipated expenses and a 2018 fire put a damper on some of the temple’s ambitious construction plans; however, the followers of Buddhist Vajra Master Jinke Xuanlei aren’t giving up yet on the project that they’ve invested more than $10 million into already. The congregation is pushing forward with a revised vision for the property while simultaneously working to slim costs.

“Our disciples, they donated money so we could buy this property,” Wang said. “We feel guilty of not living up to their expectations. So, we are selling that property so we can continue to build.”

“If things continue like that, we will be forced to sell more.”

Tax troubles

Among the costly bills challenging the temple’s plans, property taxes are at the top of the list. The temple’s current tax bill comes in at more than $200,000 for all eight parcels, Wang said.

“Our lineage is new to the United States,” he explained. “Many of our disciples come from overseas. They thought originally they would be okay as a nonprofit, but they did not realize they would have to pay that tax — in China, they don’t have that property tax.”

Jinyin Temple purchased the resort property in 2017 for a combined $2.55 million, according to Pike and Monroe county tax records. The acquisition cost the temple a total $3.5 million in fundraising and loans, a statement from the temple’s leaders said.

“Ours is a temple devoted (to) spreading the Buddha’s great love and wisdom,” it says in the statement. “Although the temple satisfies the basic requirements of a religious public charity, we are now facing the possibility of a hefty tax for unified schools as well as other taxes — this is completely beyond our imagination and comprehension of a society ruled by law.”

Even though the temple is registered in New York as a federally exempt 501(c)(3) religious nonprofit, the organization isn’t necessarily entitled to tax exemption at the local level. Property owners must appeal to the county’s Board of Commissioners to receive local exemption on all or part of an otherwise taxable property. In those cases, the appellee must demonstrate how the property would be utilized to relieve local governments of some of their burdens.

Given the size and multiple uses of the temple facilities, Monroe County commissioners have a lot to consider, chief Tax Assessor Cindy Treible explained.

“Just because they’re a nonprofit, that does not mean they’re exempt from real estate taxes,” Treible said. “That’s something that’s determined by the commissioners, which properties are exempt. Even hospitals have to go before the commission.”

“Currently, the temple is in front of the commissioners for exemption status. That doesn’t mean the entire property would qualify either — some of the buildings have people living in them. Even with the example of a church that has a parsonage, the church may be exempt, but the parsonage is not.”

The temple will go before the Board of Commissioners next on June 5, but exemption appeals are reviewed on a case-by-case basis, Treible also said. That means the review process can take months, even years in certain cases, before commissioners reach a decision. Township and school district officials will also have opportunities to challenge the proposed exemption status should they choose to do so.

“The township and school district are notified of each and every meeting, although it’s the commissioners who make the decision,” she said. “Whoever doesn’t agree be it the taxpayer, the school district or the township, they can take us to court to dispute it.”

Sewer strains

Further compounding financials woes is the cost of the facilities’ pre-existing high-volume municipal sewer service, Wang also said. Due to its prior resort uses, the facilities were billed for 137 equivalent dwelling units prior to the temple’s takeover.

Billed quarterly at Middle Smithfield Township’s flat rate of $175 per year, that would amount to a cost of $95,900 annually.

“Regularly, we don’t have many people here right now — nothing like the hotel’s customers,” Wang said. “There was a building taken down after the fire, that reduces it too.”

Middle Smithfield Township did drop the temple’s capacity to 105 EDUs for the first quarter of 2019 and lowered it again to 60 EDUs as of April 1, said township Sewer Coordinator Joan Woisin. Both capacities were billed at the same rate.

“Our’s is a flat rate, whether the place is being used or not,” Woisin explained. “It’s just like taxes on a vacation home where people aren’t there all the time. If you own a property, you have to pay taxes whether you use it or not.”

“The change of use is what dropped their capacity. Old Fernwood had more restaurants, so more seating means more EDUs. Their grand ballroom was based on capacity, but that’s now a worship hall. It all depends on what the use of the space is going to be.”

The 105 EDUs billed in the first quarter of the year cost the temple $18,375 for sewer service. Billed quarterly at the new capacity of 60 EDUs, their annual cost will be $49,875 total if the capacity remains consistent.

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